The Mirror

Screams awakened Rainbow Dash. She had no idea how long she'd been out, so when she staggered to her feet she was surprised to find herself in the heart of the village she had been sent to. How in the world did she get here? The last thing she remembered she was still in the forest. Giving her head a shake to try and clear it, Rainbow Dash tried to assess the situation. There was chaos everywhere, ponies running every which way as though being chased by something.

In the darkness broken only by moonlight, something moved. Something big. Rainbow Dash tried squinting to get a better look at the thing, only to throw a hoof over her mouth to muffle the scream that nearly tore from her. Horrified, she watched as a helpless mare was lifted into the air, shrieking for all she was worth. Dark lines appeared on the mare's body, and just when Rainbow Dash realized what those lines were, the earth pony was abruptly torn asunder. The two halves of her body were dropped to the earth, a peculiar shattering as though she were made of glass among the gore that painted the grass ocher in the moonlight.

Backing away quickly, Rainbow Dash spun around and tried to think of how she could get away from the carnage that was tearing the village apart. There wasn't any hope for the others here, nothing she could do now. Choking out a sob, Dash wondered if this was going to also destroy the only home she'd ever known as well. There was nothing else she could do but run away now, the screams chasing her into the night as the being from the mirror laid waste to all three hundred ponies who had called this village home.

Hoof beats rang out against earth and stone when she occasionally hit a rock, running for all she was worth away from the village. If she could just make it home she would be safe, the creature could entertain its fill of bloodshed with the ponies she'd doomed by falling in the first place. Guilty conscience would come into play later, right now it was just about survival. Rainbow Dash just wanted to make it home, own up to the fact that she had failed the rite and never be seen as an adult mare in the village; forever a filly in their eyes.

Galloping as fast as her legs could carry her, it was only when she'd gotten a fair way down the path in the total darkness of the forest that she remembered she had wings. Snapping them outwards, her simple linen dress fluttered in the breeze created before Dash flapped them hard enough to become airborne. Then speed was her ally while she zoomed through the forest, eyes kept forwards so she wouldn't see anything behind her.

Eventually the sounds of screams and butchery faded into the night, leading Rainbow Dash to believe that she was finally safe from all of this madness. Guilt ate away at her as she flew through the forest, zooming along the path back to home and safety. None of this would have happened if she hadn't fallen and caused the package to open, but there was also a large curiosity within her. Why did her village have a rite of passage that involved giving a mirror to the other village anyways? More importantly, why were they all kept in the dark about it?

These questions seemed to quell the bubbling guilt as Rainbow Dash made her way back to the village of her birth. It had taken days on hoof, but since she was now aided by speed with her wings she seemed to be making up for the initial journey in record time. Sooner rather than later she saw the familiar sights of home and rushed towards them, ignoring the looks of surprise from the sentries.

Dash knew she was early by a few days, the sentries knew, and by the time she'd landed in the center of her home it seemed everypony else did as well. The elders had gathered near the central bonfire, an ever-burning cheery beacon under most circumstances. Of course, this was not an ordinary situation and it seemed that every pony seemed to pick up on this. The five elders fanned out, the bonfire at their backs and throwing their forms into shadow.

"You have returned early," one elder stated, her voice gravelly with an emotion not easily named.

"And you have returned with flight," another added, his voice as stern as the oaks that grew outside the fence that formed the boundary of the village.

"Most unusual," said the third, while the fourth was merely silent. The fifth elder seemed to be mulling something over, but with the shadows concealing their faces beneath their robes, it was extraordinarily hard to tell.

Rainbow Dash looked from one elder to the next, taking care to consider her words before she spoke them. She knew that when she opened her mouth things would be forever changed, and no matter what the outcome was going to be there was no going back now. Their way of life will be forever altered, because of what she had done.

"I had no other choice," she began, her words quavering as tears filled her eyes. "It was the only way I could escape."

Unseen to her, the elders exchanged glances with each other.

"While I was journeying to the village, I ended up falling at some point," Dash continued. "The package slipped free from my saddlebags, and somehow ended up open."

The commingled gasps of horror from the elders stopped Rainbow Dash as effectively as if they'd just thrown a rope about her snout to muzzle her.

"My child...." One of the male elders said, slowly. "What you have done cannot be undone." Fervent whispering picked up from the other ponies who had gathered to witness this moment.

"You have doomed us all," the elder mare with the gravelly voice chimed in. "Now the beast that lives within the mirrors will hunt us as surely as it hunts those in the village we bargained with long ago."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, fear all but choking her voice into a whisper. She was tense with it, quivering from tip to tail as the elders spoke.

"Long ago," began a male elder, in a voice that shook as much with age as it did with terror. "Our village made a pact, to keep a demon at bay we'd sealed away within the mirrors." He paused, swallowing around a knot in his throat before continuing. "The village next to ours agreed to a ritual, that we would send a mirror once every time a pony came of age, with the promise that they would not look upon the mirror before it could be refreshed with a new seal upon it."

The elder barrelled on, his words slow. "The others were powerful with their magics, keeping the demon safe with only an occasional sacrifice made. By looking into an unguarded mirror, you have allowed it to escape. Surely the beast will want revenge for us capturing it in our youths."

A loud roar from the entrance of the woods confirmed his words, as it seemed the beast had caught up to its prey with alarming speed. Trees crashed and the ground shook, while it stomped closer and closer to the gates. With surprising speed defenders approach the wall, while the gate itself rattled closed in an attempt to keep the beast out of the village. Torches burned brightly in the night, casting shadows looming like gods against the forest.

Murmured words from the elders as they formed a ring, chanting rapidly in the hopes their own feeble skills could conjure up a shield that would keep the ponies safe from the eldritch wrath. Rainbow Dash herself used her wings to try and fly around as a distraction, open bait to keep it occupied in such a way the villagers could begin to evacuate to safety. None of their actions appeared to have any effect, and with a roar the beast crashed through the gates, ignoring the arrows flying towards it as though they were simply gnats biting at its skin.

The beast itself began grabbing ponies on a whim, crushing and disemboweling and slicing at random. It feasted on the offal, letting remains drop to the earth like forgotten candy in a church. Snarling and roaring, the screams filled the air as surely as they had earlier in the other village. Rainbow Dash decided then that her only course of action was to fight the beast, while the bonfire in the center of the village continued to burn like a beacon in the night. The ornate mirror that seemed like a portal to another realm twinkled in the reflected flames, waiting to be enchanted as tradition had long dictated.

Panting as she wheeled and darted about, Rainbow Dash did the best she could to bite, kick, punch, and simply wound the beast in some way in an effort to protect her people. In trying to distract it from killing more ponies, the pegasus threw everything she had into her motions while praying to the gods above that she would be successful. At one moment she managed to fling sand into the creature's eyes as it had reached with gangly limbs towards a terrified family that were too afraid to run. A sound of triumph ripped from Rainbow Dash's throat, only to turn to dismay as the fruits of her labors turned on her.

While she'd spared them whatever the beast was initially going to do, it backhanded her hard enough she fell into the ground and slid a fair distance before it simply stalked the frozen fillies before viciously decapitating and feasting on them. Crying out in despair, as her ears were filled with the sounds of screaming, crunching, crushing, and chewing she looked for somepony, anypony to help in this moment. This was a battle they were losing, and it seemed like before the sun rose they would all be wiped from the face of the earth.

Desperation filled her, and as Rainbow Dash looked around for help she spotted the desperate ring of elder ponies, who seemed to have abandoned their chanting for the time being.

"We may be able to bind it within somepony!" One of the elders called, shouting to be heard above the din. "We will need a willing volunteer!"

Those that were within earshot shuddered as they ran, clearly not wanting to take part in this since they were obviously on the losing side of things. Watching, Rainbow Dash heaved herself to her hooves while she sucked air into her lungs to center herself.

"I'll do it!" She cried, flaring her wings like a human spreading their arms to be seen better. "I volunteer to be the vessel for this creature!"

Nodding, one of the elder mares galloped forth and brought Rainbow Dash with them over to the bonfire, as herbs were flung into the flames and caused a myriad of colors to shoot forth into the sky. With her in the center by the mirror, the elders fanned out into a circle, chanting as one in a language that was as old as the very bones of the earth. They moved clockwise and counterclockwise, throwing their heart and souls into the ritual that could very well mean their survival.

Their efforts drew the attention of the beast, but some of the remaining villagers were heartened by the show of effort and threw items at the creature to try and slow it down before the pivotal moment that would seal it within the young filly. Horseshoes, sticks, bits of coal, scraps of cloth, rocks, these and more were lobbed like homemade bombs but it didn't seem to have any effect in hampering the beast in the slightest. Roaring, it swung wildly, throwing ponies to be impaled on the village walls or crushed beneath falling, flaming buildings.

Magic charged and grew, pulsing with energy while the air seemed to crackle. Rainbow Dash knew the moment was coming, and with an epic war cry flung herself at the beast just as the ritual seemed to come to a climax. The sudden explosion was massive, sending out a cyan and white colored shock wave that flattened the ring of elders and dropped everypony in vicinity like a rock.

In the silence that followed, it looked as though the ones who hadn't fled into the night had perished when the magic had reached its peak. Nothing and nopony moved, all was still save for the blowing winds on the blades of grass. The beast was nowhere to be found, so perhaps the ritual had been a success after all. After so many hours of sound, the quiet that now dominated seemed out of place.